A Condition Necromancer’s Guide to Player vs. Environment

Introduction

Hello, my name is Lopez. I’m an avid Guild Wars 2 fan. Before Guild Wars 2, I played almost every other major MMORPG release, from World of Warcraft to Star Wars: The Old Republic to The Secret World. When I focused on World of Warcraft, I achieved gladiator on my death knight for seasons 8, 9, and 10 of arenas.

In Guild Wars 2, I decided to focus on both PvE and PvP content on my condition necromancer. I used this build to get to lv. 30 fractals within a week of their release. At this point, I feel like I’ve built up enough experience to write a guide, so here it is! This guide will mostly focus on dungeons, fractals, small-scale event farming, and world bosses.

I. Why Condition Necromancer?

In one word, Epidemic.

Condition necromancer has the best area-of-effect (AOE) potential in the game. With Epidemic, it can spread all the conditions on a target to up to five other targets. Not only can this be used for massive AOE damage if it spreads 25 stacks of bleeds, some stacks of confusion, burning, torment and poison, but it also has the benefit of spreading debuffs like blind, chilled, cripple, fear, immobilize, vulnerability, and weakness. This, along with utility from wells, makes necromancer the best class for mowing through trash — or non-boss — mobs.

To top it off, condition necromancers can do solid single-target damage. The mix of 10 to 14 stacks of bleeding, burning, terror, torment and poison gives the class the highest single-target condition DPS in the game.

That single-target damage also comes with the added benefit of being executed from range. While direct-damage builds tend to sacrifice damage at range, condition builds keep the same DPS and sacrifice burst instead. Being able to keep maximum range is a massive boost to survivability and damage potential. It lets a condition necromancer overcome many boss mechanics while doing maximum DPS.

By itself, necromancer also has a lot of useful utility. It constantly applies poison, which does damage and reduces the effectiveness of healing abilities by 33 percent. Wells can be used to AOE heal, convert conditions on an ally to boons, convert boons on an enemy to conditions, perpetually blind, and apply vulnerability, all while giving protection through traits. Corruption skills can be used to apply weakness and convert boons on an enemy to conditions. Signets can provide different kinds of utility, ranging from an in-combat revive to boss-weakening conditions, as well.

Then there’s Death Shroud. This ability can be used every 10 seconds at the expenditure of life force, which can be obtained by both killing enemies and through specific abilities. It’s very good for survivability and utility, but as a condition necromancer, it’s not a good idea to stay in it for long. Still, it’s worth emphasizing that it’s one of the best survivability cooldowns in the game because life force essentially acts as a second health bar.

However, all of that does come with one major downside: a lack of burst. Necromancers, as ArenaNet has explained, are masters of attrition. Their access to AOE damage, condition damage, solid utility, and deadly debuffs is balanced out by much less burst than a typical warrior. This can hurt in some PvE fights and encounters that demand quick kills (for example, Giganticus Lupicus’ grubs are harder to solo for a necromancer), but it’s easily made up by a proper team composition.

The bleed cap is also a potential downside to condition necromancers. The cap of 25 bleeds forces a good group to not get more than one or two condition-built members. This also makes some traits and stats, particularly those focused on bleed and condition duration, a little worse, but more on that later.

II. Weapon and Death Shroud Abilities

There’s really not much diversity here. Scepter and dagger are the bread-and-butter of the build, with staff acting as a proper secondary weapon for utility and AOE damage. In underwater situations, trident is almost always the best option due to its auto-attack.

Scepter and Dagger:

1. Blood Curse / Rending Curse / Putrid Curse: The first two attacks apply a bleed for 4 seconds default, and the third attack applies poison for 4 seconds default. Get ready to spam this a lot! When every other attack on scepter and dagger is on cooldown, this is the best damage option.

2. Grasping Dead: An AOE that applies cripple and three stacks of bleed for 7 seconds default. It also applies cripple, which is very useful on trash and some bosses that need to be kited. It’s probably the best damage cooldown while using scepter and dagger.

3. Feast of Corruption: Decent direct damage, and scepter’s main source for life force, which is used for Death Shroud.

4. Deathly Swarm: Blinds and transfers three conditions from the necromancer to its target, with the potential to bounce to up to three targets. This ability is incredible. It can be coupled with corruption skills to apply self-afflicted conditions on enemy targets. For example, using Blood is Power before Deathly Swarm hits a target will transfer the self-applied bleed to a target, resulting in two extra bleed stacks for 10 seconds default.

5. Enfeebling Blood: An AOE that applies weakness and two stacks of bleeding for 10 seconds default. Pretty standard. It’s probably the second best damage cooldown while using scepter and dagger, and weakness is great, as explained in IX. Tips.

Staff:

1. Necrotic Grasp: Does direct damage through a piercing, slightly homing projectile. It’s a pretty terrible auto-attack. Spam it during downtime on cooldowns, but the terribleness of this attack is the main reason it’s important to switch out from staff to scepter and dagger as soon as possible and why it’s better to never change to staff in single-target situations. The only advantage is it pierces, so it can AOE bunched-up mobs or mobs in a line.

2. Mark of Blood: Ground-targeted AOE that applies three stacks of bleed for 8 seconds default in an AOE. It also applies a regen to anyone who’s close to the mark when it’s triggered, healing anyone in a target’s melee range. Great AOE and bleed application.

3. Chillblains: Ground-targeted AOE that applies chill for 4 seconds default and poison for 6 seconds default, and it’s AOE. Use this on mobs that heal and/or need to be kited. It also applies a poison combo field, which can be chained with Putrid Mark to apply weakness.

4. Putrid Mark: Ground-targeted AOE that counts as a blast combo finisher and does decent damage, transfers three conditions from the necromancer to a target. The blast combo finisher can be used with Chillblains to apply weakness.

5. Reaper’s Mark: Ground-targeted AOE that fears for 1 second default. Probably the best interrupt in the game. Very useful for pushing back and controlling AOE packs. With that said, make sure not to use it in a way that scatters mobs and makes them more difficult to AOE. One way this can be avoided is by applying cripple, chill or immobilize to a pack before fearing. This ability is limited on bosses by defiant, a buff typically on champion and boss mobs that needs to be worn down by crowd-control abilities before the mob is vulnerable to crowd control. It’s particularly awesome with the trait Terror, as explained in III. Traits.

Trident:

1. Crimson Tide: Applies one stack of bleed for 6 seconds default and does moderate direct damage in an AOE around the target. It is what a condition necromancer uses underwater 90 percent of the time. Spam, spam, spam.

2. Feast: Applies weakness and does decent direct damage in an AOE around the necromancer, and gives life force if it hits an enemy. As long as getting in melee range isn’t a problem, using this on cooldown for the life force and weakness is ideal.

3. Foul Current: Shoots the necromancer at a target and leaves a trail that applies poison for 4 seconds default. It also drops a poison combo field, which Frozen Abyss (No. 5) can combo with to apply weakness. The poison stacks very quickly, so it’s typical to get about 12 seconds of poison on a target even if it moves out of the trail. Still, it’s not worth using for damage over Crimson Tide (No. 1).

4. Sinking Tomb: Sinks a target for 2 seconds, and it ignores Defiant. Use on cooldown, assuming it won’t put a mob in a bad position.

5. Frozen Abyss: Does good direct damage, applies about 4 seconds default of chill while charging up, and applies seven stacks of vulnerability for 7 seconds default, but it has a long cast and requires melee range. It’s a blast combo finisher, which can be used with Foul Current (No. 3) to apply weakness. Unfortunately, the cast on this ability is too long for how much damage it does; only use it to build distance on enemies.

Death Shroud (Land):

1. Life Blast: Does decent direct damage. Mostly useless as a condition necromancer. I only use this when I need to stay in Death Shroud to survive.

2. Dark Path: Applies chill in an AOE and three stacks of bleed for 5 seconds default, but it puts the necromancer in melee range. I will always use it when I switch to Death Shroud as long as getting into melee doesn’t put me in a bad spot. (Tip: It’s possible to cast this then jump out of Death Shroud immediately after, which usually allows the necromancer to get one other attack in before the projectile lands. It’s also possible to mitigate the forced melee range with Doom and Deathly Swarm.)

3. Doom: Standard single-target fear for 1 second default at range and 1.5 seconds default in melee. Amazing interrupt with a relatively short 20-second cooldown. On bosses that don’t need to be interrupted, I use this on cooldown to wear down Defiant. It’s particularly awesome with the trait Terror, as explained in III. Traits.

4. Life Transfer: Does AOE damage around the necromancer and builds up life force for every target it hits. Great survivability tool, but it’s not worth using for damage. Keep in mind the damage shown on the screen is cumulative for the entire channel, not representative of each tick.

5. Tainted Shackles: Applies a stacking debuff on targets near the necromancer that applies torment, a damaging condition. After three seconds, the debuff explodes and applies immobilize. This is a fantastic DPS cooldown that should be used as much as possible — as long as getting near an enemy isn’t a problem. (Once the ability is cast and the shackles are visible on an enemy, it’s possible to leave Death Shroud. he typical combination for Death Shroud is enter Death Shroud, Dark Path, Doom, Tainted Shackles, leave Death Shroud and stay near the enemy until Tainted Shackles explodes.)

Death Shroud (Underwater):

1. Life Blast: Does moderate damage and transfers one condition. Like its land-based alternative, I only use this when I need to stay in Death Shroud for survivability, even though the condition transfer can be nice, especially after Gathering Plague (No. 4).

2. Dark Water: Applies blind for 3 seconds default and poison for 7 seconds default. Worth using with every switch to Death Shroud.

3. Wave of Fear: Applies fear in an AOE cone in front of the necromancer for 2 seconds default. Requires small-to-medium range and facing the target. A downgrade from its land-based alternative, but still useful. I try to use it on cooldown if melee range is not a problem. It’s particularly awesome with the trait Terror, as explained in III. Traits.

4. Gathering Plague: Transfers all conditions from party members to the necromancer. Very useful when multiple party members are struck with conditions, especially if it’s paired up with Consume Conditions or Plague Signet to immediately remove the absorbed conditions.

5. Tainted Shackles: Applies a stacking debuff on targets near the necromancer that applies torment, a damaging condition. After three seconds, the debuff explodes and applies immobilize. This is a fantastic DPS cooldown that should be used as much as possible — as long as getting near an enemy isn’t a problem. (Once the ability is cast and the shackles are visible on an enemy, it’s possible to leave Death Shroud. The typical combination for Death Shroud underwater is enter Death Shroud, Tainted Shackles, Wave of Fear, Dark Water, leave Death Shroud and stay near the enemy until Tainted Shackles explodes.)

III. Traits

For condition necromancers, picking traits is about maximizing damage while also picking up some utility to be useful to the group.

The equipped skills are meant to act as a base, not a definitive set. Please look at IV. Heals, Utility Skills, and Elite Skills for a much deeper explanation of the heals, utility skills, and elite skills. Skills are very fluid and always changing depending on the encounter.

Spite:

Although it’s traditionally looked at as the power tree, it has a few goodies for condition necromancers. It gives power and condition duration, which are OK stats but not by any means the best.

The standard tree for bleeds and conditions. It gives condition damage and precision, the two best damage stats for condition necromancer.

Minor Traits:

Barbed Precision: Gives critical hits a 66 percent chance to apply one bleed for 1 second default. Decent damage, but it’s slightly held down by the bleed cap since the bleed last for so little time.

Furious Demise: Gain Fury for 5 seconds default when entering Death Shroud. This is pretty amazing, especially when paired up with Barbed Precision and Superior Sigil of Earth. One way good and great condition necromancers are set apart is by maximizing fury through Death Shroud.

Target the Weak: For each condition on a target, boosts direct damage by 2 percent. It’s not amazing since it only works on direct damage, not bleeds and poison. But it is an OK damage boost since all attacks have direct-damage components to them.

Major Traits:

II. Hemophilia: Increases bleed duration by 20 percent. Pretty standard. It is bogged down by bleed cap, as all condition duration is, but it’s still a hefty damage boost.

VI. Terror: Fear deals damage every second, and it deals 50 percent additional damage if other conditions are on the target. A decent DPS boost, and adds a small element of burst to condition necromancer.

VII. Master of Corruption: Reduces the cooldown on corruption skills by 20 percent. Great for Blood is Power and utility from Epidemic. For more information on corruption skills, check out IV. Heals, Utility Skills, and Elite Skills.

Soul Reaping:

Standard Death Shroud tree.

Minor Traits:

Gluttony: Increases life force gain by 10 percent. This is mostly a PvP trait.

Major Traits:

III. Path of Midnight: Lowers cooldown on Death Shroud abilities by 15 percent. This is really good for maximizing Death Shroud’s three main DPS abilities: Dark Path, Doom and Tainted Shackles. It also allows the use of Life Force more often when the necromancer is tanking. Decent DPS and survivability boost.

IV. Heals, Utility Skills, and Elite Skills

It’s important to note that heals, utility skills, and elite skills can change depending on the situation. There is no reason to use Epidemic on a purely single-target encounter, as good as it is. There are some encounters that demand more group utility and survivability through wells. Minions are completely worthless and flat-out detrimental in some fights. Knowing all the utility skills available to me lets me adjust my build to match different situations.

Heals:

Consume Conditions: Absorbs all conditions and heals, with each absorbed condition boosting the heal. This heal is the only realistic option for all DPS builds. The best part is this heal essentially ignores poison’s healing debuff and, in fact, gets stronger from absorbing poison. It can also be chained with corruption skills to boost the heal.

Utility Skills:

Corruption Skills: Corruption abilities provide utility on top of the occasional damage. The downside to them is they each apply a condition on the necromancer, but this self-applied condition can be transferred to mobs with Deathly Swarm and Putrid Mark.

Blood is Power: Applies two stacks of bleeds for 30 seconds default on the target, grants 10 stacks of might to the necromancer, and applies two stacks of bleeds for 10 seconds default on the necromancer, all with a 24-second cooldown if traited for corruption skills. This ability is a huge damage boost. The bleeds are nice by themselves, especially when the self-applied bleeds are transferred to an enemy target. But the best part is the might, which grants 350 condition damage for 10 seconds default. The might is retroactive, so it affects all bleeds already on a target. At lv. 80, this translates to 17.5 more damage per bleed tick for about two-thirds of the time as long as Blood is Power is used on cooldown.

Corrupt Boon: Dispels five boons on a target and turns them into conditions. For information on what the boons are converted into, click here. Decent for mobs that stack boons, particularly for mobs that stack stability because stability can be corrupted into fear.

Epidemic: Spreads all conditions on a target to up to five extra targets, with only a 12-second cooldown when traited. Epidemic is the staple of the condition necromancer. It is the best AOE in the game, allowing the spread of 25 stacks of bleeds, other damaging conditions, and any utility-based condition. However, it’s not very good on boss fights that are focused on single-target damage.

Corrosive Poison Cloud: Ground-targeted AOE that applies weakness and poison on a target for 3 seconds default instantly and then every 3 seconds for 12 seconds, but it applies weakness to the necromancer for 6 seconds default. It also acts as a poison combo field, which can be used for more weakness through a blast combo finisher (staff No. 4) and for poison through a projectile (staff No. 1). This is an overlooked ability, mostly because a lot of players underestimate weakness. For more information on how awesome weakness is, go to IX. Tips. I usually replace Epidemic with Corrosive Poison Cloud for stationary single-target bosses that kill minions too quickly.

Signets: Useful for a variety of utility. I usually use one signet in my typical load-out.

Signet of Undeath: Ranged, small-radius AOE revive that can be used in-combat and affects up to three downed players, with a 180-second default cooldown. It also generates 1 percent of life force every 3 seconds. This can make reviving a player much easier. One encounter in which this signet particularly shines is Giganticus Lupicus in Arah and Legendary Imbued Shaman in the volcanic fractal. Since avoiding melee range is generally advisable on both, having a ranged revive can be a lifesaver, literally. I’ll usually replace Signet of Spite with this for those two bosses and other situations in which my party members are getting downed a lot.

Signet of Spite: Applies most conditions in the game for 10 seconds default and blind for 5 seconds default. This ability is really great for quickly debuffing a boss. The mix of weakness and cripple in particular can make surviving against a hard-hitting boss a lot easier.

Plague Signet: Makes the necromancer absorb one condition from each group member every 3 seconds, and it can be used to transfer all conditions on the necromancer to a target. It sounds better in theory than it works in practice, mostly because the 3-second pulse timer is too long. I generally recommend Well of Power over this for condition removal.

Signet of the Locust: Grants 25-percent move speed, and it heals the necromancer and damages a target when activated. Never use the active ability for this, and only use it for the move speed. It’s a huge speed boost, so use it on fights that require heavy kiting or to move around between pulls or while avoiding mobs.

Spectral Skills: These abilities are too selfish, and their cooldowns are usually too long to be effective. Still, one spectral ability is useful depending on the situation.

Spectral Grasp: Pulls a target to the necromancer and chills it. It’s OK for some fights where adds have to be controlled, such as the second fight in the volcanic fractal.

Minions: For the most part, minions are more trouble than they’re worth. Their AI is unreliable — it sometimes doesn’t attack at all — and they tend to die too easily. They also do very little except provide extra damage, so they are generally a huge sacrifice in terms of utility. Still, one minion in particular is sometimes useful in single-target situations.

Summon Flesh Wurm: Summons an immobile wurm that does damage. The wurm can also be sacrificed to teleport to it and poison foes surrounding it. It’s usually the best damage option for single-target situations.

Wells: Wells are amazing utility. When traited for them, they are probably the best support a Necromancer can bring. They also drop dark combo fields, which gives blind on blast finishers (Putrid Mark) and life steal on projectiles (Necrotic Grasp). I’ll usually replace Blood Is Power with a well during encounters in which a specific well is useful.

Well of Darkness: Player-based AOE that blinds every second for 5 seconds with a 50-second default cooldown. Amazing for packs of mobs, particularly in the cliffside fractal.

Well of Power: Player-based AOE that removes one condition on allies and the necromancer every second for 5 seconds, and each condition removed turns into a boon, with a 50-second default cooldown. For a full list of how the conditions are converted, click here. This is probably the best option for a necromancer looking for party-wide condition removal. It’s particularly useful on the Legendary Imbued Shaman in the volcanic fractal because it can convert burning, which is applied to anyone who stands still during that fight, to aegis. (One good trick for that fight: Drop Well of Power, purposely stand still to get burned and soak in the converted aegis.)

Elite Skills:

Summon Flesh Golem: Summons a pet that does decent damage. The AI for the pet can be really stupid, and the pet dies a lot more than I would like. But it generally attacks whatever the necromancer is attacking and does decent damage, effectively acting as a big damage-over-time skill. It also has a useful knockdown. This is my typical elite skill.

Plague: Turns the necromancer into a virulent cloud that can apply conditions. This is really only useful for the AOE debuffing and massive boost in toughness because it doesn’t enough bleeds to make up for the loss of AOE bleed application from scepter and dagger or staff. The AOE blind and weakness are amazing, however, on packs of mobs, particularly on trash in the cliffside, Ascalonian and dredge fractals.

Lich Form: Turns the necromancer into a lich to do a lot of direct damage. This is good in fights in which direct damage is increased by a buff. For example, I usually use Lich Form against Tequatl and the last boss of the dredge fractal because both take more direct damage throughout the fight.

V. Gear

Armor, Weapons, and Trinkets:

I stick with rabid stat combination, or condition damage, precision, and toughness. The precision is good because it turns the Barbed Precision trait and Superior Sigil of Earth into huge damage boosts. The toughness is good for two reasons: First, it’s a great boost to survivability, which is vastly underrated in dungeons where some damage is too difficult or downright impossible to avoid. Second, the toughness interacts with consumables to provide a decent boost to condition damage.

There is one downside to the rabid set-up: Enemies have a higher chance of attacking — or “aggroing” — whoever has the most toughness. So if a condition necromancer with full rabid gear is in a squishy group, enemies will focus the necromancer more than other players. In my experience, it’s not a big deal. For others, moving around more often to deal with the extra enemy attention could become tiresome; for these people, dropping some toughness for another stat — such as power — could be a good idea. Still, this should only be a problem in a faulty group set-up.

There is also a case for precision, power, and condition damage gear if survivability isn’t an issue for whatever reason. Power does not benefit conditions, but necromancers have enough direct damage for it to be a decent direct-damage boost. Still, this stat combination has less overall condition damage than the rabid stat combination because it prioritizes precision over condition damage and power.

Tips for Gearing Up:

Getting a set with rabid stats — condition damage, precision, and toughness — can be a pain, but it’s possible with time and patience. This list should make the process a bit easier.

Exotic Gear:

Accessories, Amulets, Backpacks, and Rings:

Trading Post: Tortured Root (accessory), Colossus Fang (amulet), and Plague (ring) are all available on the trading post, but they can be fairly expensive.

Karma: Accessories, amulets, backpacks, and rings can be obtained at the Temple of Dwayna in Malchor’s Leap, which is accessible through the Tempests Waypoint.

Armor:

Trading Post: Khilbron’s set.

Karma: Head, shoulder, hand, and leg pieces from Click here for the full list and locations of the vendors on Dulfy‘s amazing website.

Karma: The best underwater breather is masterwork — or green — quality. Buy the Gavbeorn Breather of the Afflicted at Gavbeorn’s Waypoint after the Temple of Melandru event. (Also, underwater breathers replace helmets underwater, so remember to slot it with a rune.)

Ascended Gear:

Weapons:

Crafting: The only way to currently obtain ascended rabid weapons — known as Grizzlemouth’s weapons — is crafting. It’s a lengthy process that involves a lot of content and gathering, but it’s all explained on the Guild Wars 2 wiki here.

Accessories:

Laurels: The best rabid ascended accessories are Fierceshot’s Arrowhead and Marriner’s Flask, which can be obtained with 40 laurel tokens and 50 Globs of Ectoplasm. Laurel tokens are gained from daily and monthly achievements, while Globs of Ectoplasm are obtained from salvaging.

Guild Commendations: The best rabid ascended accessories are Fierceshot’s Arrowhead and Marriner’s Flask, which can be obtained with 12 guild commendations and 5 gold. Guild commendations are obtained from guild missions.

Amulets:

Laurels: The best rabid ascended amulet is Hymn to the Prophets, which can be obtained with 30 laurel tokens. Laurel tokens are gained from daily and monthly achievements.

Backpacks:

Mystic Forge: The best rabid ascended backpack is Endless Quiver, which is made at the Mystic Forge. Click here for the recipe.

Rings:

Laurels: The rabid ascended rings are Khilbron’s Phylactery and Ouroboros Loop, which can be obtained with 35 laurel tokens. Laurel tokens are gained from daily and monthly achievements.

Fractals of the Mists: The rabid ascended rings are Khilbron’s Phylactery and Ouroboros Loop. In fractals, they can be obtained through the chest or tokens from the fractal level 10 and higher daily quests. For more information on fractals and the fractal daily quests, check out my in-depth guide.

Runes:

On land, five Superior Runes of Perplexity and one Superior Rune of the Afflicted are, in my opinion, the best option. The set provides condition damage and another condition to stack. (Six Superior Runes of Perplexity are bad on land for necromancer because fear doesn’t count as an interrupt. But make sure to put the Superior Rune of the Afflicted on the helmet so it’s possible get six Superior Runes of Perplexity underwater.)

Underwater, place a Superior Rune of Perplexity on the aqua breather because Sinking Tomb (Trident No. 4) counts as an interrupt and therefore makes it even easier to stack conditions.

Jewels:

Unfortunately, my build is stuck with the rare-quality Crest of the Rabid to maximize condition damage through condition damage, precision, and toughness. Like stated earlier, Exquisite Coral Jewels are also viable for condition damage, power, and precision, but it does give less condition damage overall.

Sigils:

For the scepter and staff, Superior Sigil of Earth is standard. It gives critical hits a 60 percent chance to apply a stack of bleed for 5 seconds default. This is a huge part of the build, and it’s why condition necromancers want precision.

For the dagger, Superior Sigil of Bursting, which gives 6 percent more condition damage, is the best option. Unlike every other proc-based sigil, Superior Sigil of Torment doesn’t share an inner cooldown with other proc-based sigils.

Tip: It’s also possible in PvE to keep another dagger with Superior Sigil of Corruption, which gives 10 condition damage for every kill up to 25 stacks, to build up condition damage stacks. Once the stacks are built up, change to the dagger with Superior Sigil of Bursting.

Infusions:

These upgrade slots are applied only to ascended gear. There are few ways to get them, with the most expensive methods giving the best stats:

Laurels: It’s possible to get infusions with just stats at the cost of 5 laurels. I do not recommend this for fractals because agony resistance is a huge deal, but if you don’t care about fractals, get the Malign Infusion (Basic) for offensive slots and Resilient Infusion (Basic) for defensive slots.

Fractal Relics: Versatile Simple Infusions are the cheapest infusions because they can be bought for only 75 Fractal Relics, but they only give 5 agony resistance and no stats. For high-end fractals, these are better than the infusions from laurels because agony resistance is more important than stats.

VI. Consumables

Unfortunately, consumables are often overlooked. This is a shame because even the affordable options add 189 condition damage and 36 percent condition duration. That’s a massive damage increase! Since I realize consumables can be too expensive for some, I’ll list what I consider the affordable options and the best options.

VII. Skill Priority

For the most part, this will cover weapon rotations. Utility skills are highly situational, with Blood is Power and Epidemic acting as exceptions due to their damage-based nature. Those utility skills should be top priority — assuming other bleeds are up in the case of Epidemic — over all weapon skills. Also, read VIII. Use of Death Shroud for how to maximize Death Shroud in rotations for DPS.

Scepter and Dagger vs. Staff:

The most important thing to know about the two weapon sets for condition necromancer is staff is only there for AOE and utility, while the scepter-and-dagger set is much better for damage. The scepter-and-dagger set is capable of stacking twice as many bleeds, which is obviously ideal for maximizing condition damage. The poison, chill, condition removal, and fear from staff are still great for dealing with large packs of mobs, but they’re simply not as good as the scepter-and-dagger set is for damage.

What this means is staying in staff for too long leads to a big drop in damage done. In the ideal situation, a condition necromancer should be using the scepter-and-dagger set as much as possible, and staff should only be changed to for 10 seconds (weapon swap cooldown) when it’s needed to AOE mobs or fear.

Single-Target Situations on Land:

Open by using all staff skills, then stick to scepter and dagger. The ideal priority is Grasping Dead (No. 2) over Enfeebling Blood (No. 5) over Feast of Corruption (No. 3) over Blood Curse / Rending Curse / Putrid Curse (No. 1). Deathly Swarm (No. 4) is good when afflicted with conditions, particularly after Blood is Power is used. Also, try to use Death Shroud on cooldown, but only stay in it for long enough to gain fury from the Furious Demise trait and use Doom (Death Shroud No. 3) for the Terror effect and, if melee range isn’t a problem, Dark Path (Death Shroud No. 2), and Tainted Shackles (Death Shroud No. 5).

In some situations, it is worth changing to staff for the chill, poison, condition removal and fear. When to swap is entirely situational. Just keep in mind changing to staff is a large DPS loss in single-target encounters due to the very weak Necrotic Grasp (staff No. 1), and tread carefully.

AOE Situations on Land:

Cooldown spam! Start with staff, use all the marks, even Reaper’s Mark (No. 5) for the fear. Try to use Chillblains (No. 3) before Putrid Mark (No. 4) for the weakness-applying combo. After marks are used, switch to scepter and dagger, use Grasping Dead (No. 2) and Enfeebling Blood (No. 5), then use Epidemic (utility skill). Change weapons as much as possible after that, and use Epidemic on cooldown.

Underwater:

Crimson Tide (No. 1) spam is condition necromancer’s main underwater DPS ability, but it’s a good idea to use Feast (No. 2) on cooldown for the weakness. In between, make sure to use Sinking Tomb (No. 4) as much as possible for the crowd control. Also, try to use Death Shroud on cooldown, but only stay in it for long enough to gain fury through the Furious Demise trait, Dark Water (Death Shroud No. 2) and, if melee range isn’t a problem, Wave of Fear (Death Shroud No. 3) for the Terror effect and Tainted Shackles (Death Shroud No. 5).

VIII. Use of Death Shroud

Death Shroud is one of the best tools necromancers have. It is a massive survivability cooldown and, with traits, it can be used effectively for condition damage. Unfortunately, it’s one ability that is woefully misunderstood, so it deserves its own special section.

Gaining Life Force:

For the most part, condition necromancers should be gaining life force naturally through Feast of Corruption and killing mobs. It’s not something anyone should think about too much. However, it’s important to keep in mind that killing mobs is a huge boost of life force, so if a mob is low and the necromancer isn’t capped on life force, it should be prioritized quickly for life force gain.

Survivability:

This should be what most life force goes into. As a condition necromancer, it’s not a good idea to stick around in Death Shroud because it means bleeds fall off, and bleeds are the main source of damage. So save up that life force for survivability! There are a few good moments to utilize the survivability, particularly when a heal is down or when it’s necessary to soak up conditions and other damage-over-time effects (Agony in fractals) or any big hits from bosses. I use this a lot to soak up AOE attacks (pesky red circles) when I can’t or don’t want to use a roll.

Damage:

As a condition necromancer, Death Shroud is used to gain fury,which gives a 20 percent chance to critically hit; Doom or Wave of Fear, which do sizable damage with the Terror trait; and Dark Path or Dark Water and Tainted Shackles, which all do decent damage.

In most fights, I use Death Shroud on cooldown to keep fury up as much as possible. I only save it on certain fights in which I know I’ll need Death Shroud for survivability (examples: Giganticus Lupicus in Arah and the Legendary Imbued Shaman in the grawl fractal).

Constant use of Death Shroud essentially means roughly five extra stacks of bleeds and three stacks of torment — a substantial damage increase.

To further maximize the fury, I usually try to use it when I’m only going to spam scepter No. 1. This can stack more bleeds due to scepter No. 1′s fast cast time.

IX. Tips

Epidemic for Single-Target Damage:

Many bosses have adds, and most necromancer abilities are AOE. This opens up a huge window for essentially doubling the amount of bleeds on a target. The process is simple: Stack bleeds on the focus target and an extra mob with AOEs, target the extra mob, and Epidemic. Voila, conditions on the focus target are now doubled. If used effectively, this can let a single condition necromancer push the bleed cap in fights that consistently involve extra mobs.

Maximizing Weakness:

This is the most under-appreciated condition in the game. In simple terms, it makes 50 percent of hits do half the damage. This lowers a mob’s damage output by about 25 percent. Huge!

Wear Down Defiant:

As explained earlier, defiant is a buff typically seen on champion and boss mobs that makes them immune to crowd-control abilities. It is explained in full detail here. It’s important to wear down defiant to maximize the amount of crowd control that is available on a boss, so it’s a good idea to use Reaper’s Mark while in staff*, Doom while in Death Shroud, and Charge (flesh golem ability) as much as possible. There are some situations where it’s a good idea to save the crowd control (interrupting a heal or big attack, for example), but wearing down defiant is a big help in most fights.

*As good as wearing down Defiant is, never switch to staff just for the Reaper’s Mark. Since staff’s No. 1 skill is such awful damage for a condition necromancer, it’s typically not worth the damage loss.

X. Frequently Asked Questions

When should condition necromancers swap to staff in single-target situations?

It’s very situational. When I really need to slow down damage and build distance on an enemy, I’ll change to staff to chill (No. 3) and fear (No. 5). When I really need to get some conditions off myself or some teammates, I’ll change to staff to use Putrid Mark (No. 4). Otherwise, I stick to scepter and dagger for the damage.

Why Terror in PvE?

Terror is easily the strongest single-target DPS boost in the Curses tree. Assuming 600 range and no might stacks, Doom’s fear will usually tick two to three times (average 2.7) with condition duration food because of how it synchronizes with other damaging conditions, and it ticks for about 1,100 when other conditions are on the target. That’s roughly 175 DPS. (I don’t suggest using Reaper’s Mark beyond the opener in optimal single-target situations, so don’t even bother considering that.)

The next biggest single-target DPS gain is Lingering Curse, but selecting that would come at the cost of Master of Corruption, which provides a significant amount of AOE damage and utility.

Is burning all that great in group settings?

Yes. Even if burning is constantly applied by other classes, their burns will usually be far weaker than a condition necromancer’s burn. This means that the condition necromancer’s burn will usually tick first and do about twice the damage. That’s a significant single-target DPS boost for the necromancer and party.

Why not Sigil of Battle?

First, you really shouldn’t be swapping that much in single-target situations, which actually makes Sigil of Battle nearly worthless on a lot of bosses. Second, it shares an inner cooldown with Superior Sigil of Earth, so a swap can potentially delay extra bleed stacks.

Why not carrion gear (condition damage, power, vitality)?

Carrion gear is a damage downgrade for condition builds:

1. Less condition damage: The lack of toughness on carrion gear means there’s a reduced benefit from consumables, which leads to lower condition damage.

2. Less bleed ticks: Less precision means less Barbed Precision and Superior Sigil of Earth procs.

Vitality is also worse than toughness for condition necromancers because necromancers have enough base health without any gear, so I would argue it’s also a survivability downgrade.

Why not a hybrid gear set-up?

The main reason hybrid builds, meaning builds that combine power and condition damage, are mediocre in Guild Wars 2 is because the stats from the main DPS archetypes — condition damage, precision, and toughness in rabid and power, precision, and critical damage in berserker — scale better when taken together.

For example, with berserker gear, precision is geared toward making critical strikes more frequent, but in the same set-up, critical strikes actually get stronger. So every percent of critical strike chance (21 precision at level 80) actually becomes better as the critical strikes triggered become stronger through power and critical damage. The math behind this is simple: With no extra critical damage, 1 percent chance to crit, or 21 precision, only adds about 0.5 percent DPS. With 50 percent extra critical damage, that 21 precision suddenly adds about 1 percent DPS because the critical strikes triggered are now doing double the damage.

It’s the same concept with condition damage, toughness, and bleeds in the rabid set-up. With rabid gear, precision triggers more bleeds, while condition damage and, to a much lesser degree, toughness all add to bleed damage. So each point of precision becomes stronger with each point of condition damage and toughness because the more frequent bleeds also tick harder.

In other words, it’s better to focus on two or three main stats, especially as each individual stat gets higher, because of how the stats synergize with each other. If a hybrid approach is taken to gearing, the lack of focus makes a build do much less damage in the long term.

Dec. 19, 2012: Added questions and answers to X. Frequently Asked Questions. Added VI. Consumables, largely with the help of notpowercat on Reddit. Added more information, partly with the help of bigballer_status on Reddit. Ran some corrections, largely with the help of lettucemode and Drarnor Kunoram on the official forums and froghorn on Reddit. Fixed some typos.

The bleed cap makes condition duration lacking, as explained in the guide.

But if you do want to get condition duration, the best way to do that is by boosting bleeds — your main source of DPS by far. Krait and Afflicted are essentially 30 percent more bleeds, while Nightmare runes are only 20 percent.

Craftables: DNE (Does Not Exist)
Looted: DNE
Karma: I have found at least one piece of high-level masterwork armor with rabid stats, from one of the karma merchants in Straits of Devastation. There may be others. The wiki’s list is incomplete, only shows equipment up to level ~50-60.
TP: Equipment with the prefix “Strong” is available on the TP. “Strong” can have a few different combinations of stats, but Rabid is one of them. You can find rare level 80 “Strong” gear with rabid stats on the TP for ~25s each. This is a great affordable option for lowbies like myself.

Hey there, really appreciate the guide. I have an 80 thief but wanted to give the necro a try because they appear to be more of a challenge, and I think they’re underrepresented in WvW (and honestly, after being foolishly feared off a cliff one too many times, I was starting to get jealous).

My question is in regards to leveling; do you have any tips for trait/skill spending priority, or would you even recommend this build for leveling an alt? I know leveling is boring, but I like to crunch numbers early! Thanks

If I were leveling today, I would follow my build and go curses then death magic then blood magic. For skills, I would stick to Blood Is Power, Signet of the Locust, Epidemic, and Plague. (I don’t like flesh golem in the open world.)

Hey. Just saying it again, great guide. Played my condition necro for a very long time according to this.
But why dont u tell anything about some sort of dps glass canon necro with dagger and axe? I would really enjoy to hear ur oppinion about this option.

What do you think about the new Spite grandmaster trait? “100% chance to inflict burning for 4 seconds on critical hits. This effect can only trigger once every 10 seconds.” Any chance this will be worth speccing into 30 spite, or too expensive?

Great guide. I’ve played many different version of a condimancer. Never used the Terror trait before though (I prefer the 33% extra condi duration on scepter skills, thereby removing the need for duration in runes).

Also maybe make a not that using Dhuumfire in a party with say a Guardian is probably not gonna be as effective, as the guardian has better access to burn than we do.

What are your thoughts on Runes of the Undead for condi-damage? I find with higher toughness builds (like full-rabid) these runes provide the best DPS gain via conditions?

Glad to see these guides are back! Could you comment on Dagger Mastery in the blood tree? Ever a reason to take this over 10 in Soul Reaping? To my noobish eyes, it looks like it would be a nice boost, but maybe I’m missing something.

about the rune of perplexity (wiki): The confusion duration increase does not work, neither for the rune’s confusion nor for confusion from other sources. are you sure that it’s the best option? Thanks